Mobile Browser Version

isaaccentenario

Oh God, I really love Vivaldi Browser and I really need a Android Version of this browser too

A Former User

@isaaccentenario V is cross-platform so not android, but mobile version .

Hadden89

@potmeklecbohdan said in Mobile Browser Version:

@isaaccentenario V is cross-platform so not android, but mobile version .

Excluded iOS, as they don't allow blink

Ayespy

@hadden89 Exactly. There is no longer a Windows Mobile platform, and iOS forbids Vivaldi, so for the time being, "mobile" means "Android." Any Linux-based mobile device can probably already run Vivaldi (Jon has Vivaldi on a Linux mobile at present) but these are precious few.

metafaniel

Is good to see this is marked as In Progress, awesome.

@ayespy said in Mobile Browser Version:

@hadden89 Exactly. (...) iOS forbids Vivaldi (...)

Whys is that?

LonM

@metafaniel It doesn't exactly forbid it, but it makes it incredibly difficult to build one, to the point where it might as well be forbidden.

Ayespy

@metafaniel Because Vivaldi is not built on the iOS version of WebKit, which is all they allow on their devices.

danielson

Sure hope Android version will have:

colored tabs as in Windows or Linux versions.
option to type in directly into url box à la Opera Android (imitation is flattery right?).
choice of search engine.
new tab with a few of recently visited pages.

Zaxxon

Cannot wait for this to be released. Now that 2.0 is released and includes sync, I am more excited than ever to get Vivaldi on my phone, as well. I'd love to hear the team's thoughts on when we can expect an initial release (even if that release is a beta or an alpha!)

zhenggu

The same as @danielson , an alpha version is also fine for me.

Vulks

@danielson Would love this myself. Use brave atm for Android and it's alright.

molnart

if vivaldi used some more opened platform for sync (dropbox, googledrive, onedrive, etc. as it has been suggested somewhere here earlier IIRC) instead of a proprietary solution there would be no need for a mobile browser. my only criteria for choosing my mobile browser is the ability to sync with my desktop browser.

ROTFL

@molnart said in Mobile Browser Version:

if vivaldi used some more opened platform for sync (dropbox, googledrive, onedrive, etc. as it has been suggested somewhere here earlier IIRC) instead of a proprietary solution

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxymoron

alexander.gorbovets

@Ayespy said in Mobile Browser Version:

@hadden89 Exactly. There is no longer a Windows Mobile platform, and iOS forbids Vivaldi, so for the time being, "mobile" means "Android." Any Linux-based mobile device can probably already run Vivaldi (Jon has Vivaldi on a Linux mobile at present) but these are precious few.

Major browsers currently have iOS versions powered by WebKit. Actually it's not big deal what engine is inside the mobile browser. Because currently all blink, mozilla and webkit are pretty good. User experience, customizability and sync with desktop browsers is what makes a difference

Hadden89

@alexander-gorbovets
Team is small, and they should mantain two mobile versions: one on webkit - just for ios - and other on blink for arm devices and androids.
Vivaldi is also a separate patched chromium-blink branch - not a vanilla fork - and may need a big rewrite to work the same on a ios-webkit.
I guess is not impossible to see an iOS version, but it'll require more time.

Ayespy

@alexander-gorbovets said in Mobile Browser Version:

Major browsers currently have iOS versions powered by WebKit. Actually it's not big deal what engine is inside the mobile browser.

Major browsers have hundreds of developers. When you've only got about 20 people to write the thing from the ground up, it's a big deal to develop two browsers with two different engines. As you say, it's the user experience that counts, and that has to be written for the particular engine. It can't simply be applied like paint. Vivaldi will need more resources before they attempt such an undertaking.

lemonjuice

Maybe I am odd because I sincerely hope there will never be a mobile version of Vivaldi browser. Why? Because I know Vivaldi team is small and if they dilute their powers between two browser versions then the desktop browser will receive less care. Vivaldi is about giving full power to users and this is possible only on full power computers - desktops and laptops. I wouldn't mind mobile Vivaldi if it didn't have any impact on the development of the desktop version but I know this is not realistic.

I think at best there could be an extension developed for the most popular mobile browsers allowing to sync bookmarks, passwords, etc. with the desktop Vivaldi.

Ayespy

@lemonjuice The old Opera team, founded by the same guy who founded Vivaldi, obtained most of its usership and therefore most of its income (and its resulting ability to expand to over 200 programming engineers) on mobile platforms. Mobile usage is much more widespread in the world today than desktop usage.

While it's true that Vivaldi will never abandon or de-emphasize desktop, they would have to be insane to ignore mobile.

lemonjuice

@Ayespy said in Mobile Browser Version:

Mobile usage is much more widespread in the world today than desktop usage.

While it's true that Vivaldi will never abandon or de-emphasize desktop, they would have to be insane to ignore mobile.

I don't see anything insane in ignoring mobile if the team is small. The mobile world already has many browsers to choose from - what could Vivaldi possibly offer to its users on mobile? Most of its unique options are not important nor even applicable on a mobile phone: themes, tab options, mouse gestures, side panels, UI customizations, etc. Spending lots of man hours to develop a browser that is only very slightly better than its competition doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

Vivaldi had (or still has?) plans to develop a desktop mail client, which I think is a much better plan, because the landscape of good mail clients is shrinking more and more. This is where Vivaldi could offer something unique - this is a niche waiting to be filled as opposed to the saturated market of mobile browsers.

Ayespy

@lemonjuice said in Mobile Browser Version:

I don't see anything insane in ignoring mobile if the team is small.

The insane part about it is that it prevents future growth - keeping the team always small and therefore limited in capabilities.

what could Vivaldi possibly offer to its users on mobile?

The same kinds of things the old Presto Opera Mobile offered before the new Opera Mobile became an ad platform. In other words, a more desktop-like and less limited/crippled/cramped experience. So far, no one else is getting an expanded experience right. It will also be the ONLY browser that can sync with Vivaldi desktop. Thousands of users are already craving this.

Most of its unique options are not important nor even applicable on a mobile phone: themes, tab options, mouse gestures, side panels, UI customizations, etc. Spending lots of man hours to develop a browser that is only very slightly better than its competition doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

The original Opera mobile (and therefore conceivably Vivaldi Mobile) was not only slightly better. It was miles ahead.

Vivaldi had (or still has?) plans to develop a desktop mail client, which I think is a much better plan, because the landscape of good mail clients is shrinking more and more. This is where Vivaldi could offer something unique - this is a niche waiting to be filled as opposed to the saturated market of mobile browsers.

Vivaldi has a desktop mail client. It will be released to the public when it's ready. The mobile team and the mail team do not intersect, and do not draw resources from each other. It's not one of the other.